The NOAA Corps is the nation's seventh
uniformed service. NOAA Corps officers manage and operate the
agency's fleet of 15 ships
and 13 aircraft used
to gather data and conduct research in fulfillment of NOAA's
environmental science mission. Officers also apply their technical,
managerial and operational skills to shoreside positions within
NOAA program offices.

"These new recruits are an extremely
high-caliber group of men and women, and have been very successful
in completing our rigorous training program at the U.S. Merchant
Marine Academy," said Rear
Admiral Evelyn Fields, director of NOAA's
Office of Marine and Aviation Operations and the NOAA Corps.
"They have already proven themselves to be highly motivated
to excel in their work, and we have every confidence that each
will make an important contribution to the success of NOAA's
programs."

New NOAA Corps recruits  who must
have degrees in science, engineering or mathematics  are
sent to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy to learn ship management,
bridge operations, radar plotting, navigation, firefighting,
service protocol, and other skills needed before they begin tours
aboard NOAA vessels as junior officers. Classroom lectures, lab
activities and demonstrations are combined with hands-on experience
aboard the Academy-owned ship, Kings
Pointer, which is a sister ship to two NOAA-owned vessels.

Once assigned to a vessel for a two-year
tour, each officer will work with a senior officer on the bridge
and also begin specialized training in hydrographic surveys,
fishery research and trawling, or oceanic and atmospheric research,
depending on the vessel assigned.

Of the four women and 11 men recruited,
eight have been assigned to fisheries ships; two to coastal research
ships; four to hydrographic survey ships; and one to an oceanographic
research ship.

There are currently 228 officers in the
Corps, including the 15 new recruits.